Brown Butter Lemon Garlic Pasta

Remember Wednesday? When I made those brown butter cookies? I threatened to assault you with more brown butter recipes. This is me, following through with my threat.

And, for the love of Bieber, is it brown butter or browned butter? I’m going to continue calling it brown butter until I hear otherwise.

My days are filled with two small-ish children who would be happy to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day of their lives. I like to experiment a bit more than that, and this pasta recipe is one of my recent creations. The kids both said it was “okay” but they’d rather just have their PB&J, thankyouverymuch.

That’s when I smacked them. Naughty little brats.

Okay, no I didn’t. I kinda like those two little whiners.

This pasta makes a quick and simple lunch that’s super easy to prepare for as many people as you’re looking to feed. The recipe below feeds 2 hungry adults, but feel free to adjust as needed.

Directions:

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add the pasta. Cook according to package directions, drain. Chop or smash the garlic. While the pasta is boiling, add butter to a small skillet over medium heat. Stir the butter over medium heat until it begins to brown. Add the garlic to the skillet and continue stirring for one minute or until the garlic is fragrant and the butter is a dark brown color. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Toss the pasta with the garlic butter mixture, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, and salt and pepper. Top with more Parmesan, if desired.

Browned butter adds so much flavor to everything…don’t know why it never occurred to me to try it on pasta! You’ve got two adorable kids, Karly. Let them eat their pb&j’s…but at least they can taste everything else. This is the parents lament, isn’t it? When mine grew up, their tastes changed and they appreciated being introduced to new things when they were kids.

Yep, it’s browned butter. Butter never starts out brown, so we’re not talking about a TYPE of butter here (like you would talk about a white cheese or a green vegetable). Browning is a process that you do TO it, so when it is done it has been browned, and it gets called browned. That’s what happened to it, not what it actually is (it still actually is butter). Make sense?

OK, now that that’s out of the way… My son balks at spaghetti night, which is Hubby’s favorite. So my compromise was to make the noodles for my son but coat them in butter (which melts) and drown that in parmesan. Quick, easy and he loves it. Your “grown up” version sounds delicious!

The picture of your children is absolutely amazing. I have been following your site for a long time and they have definitely grown up! They both look great! And that pasta sounds & looks delicious, i might just be trying it out soon!